Pack Mentality
by LadyLombax
Summary: Or why the Wizarding World doesn't know everything about werewolves and neither does Remus. Therefore when things change in POA, Harry is left to deal with the werewolf and everyone is left confused except Moony.


**Since reading **_**Rise of the Guardian**_** fan fiction nor going through the Jackrabbit tag on Tumblr isn't helping me with my writer's block on my **_**RotG**_** story, I figured I'd take a break and write this down to help get the plot bunnies breeding again. **

**The basic premise behind this is Pack Mentality among wolves. Wolves are social animals and are known to bury pups if they die. Wolves are protective of all pups born within the pack, no matter the mother. We see a lot of stories with Remus referring to Harry as 'cub'. So my idea is **_**What if it wasn't just a nickname or a term of affection?**_

**Just a warning that this will switch between points of view rapidly.**

**Disclaimer: If you think a broke 18 year old woman who is barely scraping together enough money to attend uni is the author of **_**Harry Potter**_** or owns any of its associated merchandise, you are delusional.**

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><p><em><strong>"...A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon when he transforms, he no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path..."<strong>_

_**-Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film).**_

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><p><em><strong>As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other. <strong>_

_**Harry stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else. It was Hermione's scream that alerted him — **_

_**Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light — and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang — Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap. **_

"_**Expelliarmus." Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you are!" Harry shouted, running forward. **_

_**Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass. **_

_**There was a howl and a rumbling growl;**_

_**-Excerpt Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter Twenty.**_

The werewolf that was formally Professor Lupin had managed to pin Sirius to the ground, poised over him with a jaw about to tear into the dog's vulnerable throat.

The horrified yelled erupted from Harry before he could think, "NO!"

Harry threw himself towards the two, shrugging off Hermione's attempts to stop him and ignoring Sirius' panicked barks. He only stopped half a meter away when the werewolf turned to growl at him, the long fangs that dripped with saliva glinted in the moonlight. Bloodthirsty eyes locked onto Harry's frozen form and seemed to deem him a more appropriate prey. The creature's nose twitched -

And the werewolf abruptly stopped growling. Keeping one paw on the canine below it and ears pulled back with narrowed eyes, it stretched its muzzle towards Harry, who was still frozen in fear. It snuffed at him and cocked its head like it was trying to figure out something.

"Professor Lupin?" Harry shakily questioned. The werewolf ignored him and continued to sniff at Harry quizzically.

Sirius squirmed under the heavy paw, only to be snarled at by the werewolf above him. Harry lurched forward again in an attempt to do _something_, only to come face to muzzle with the werewolf. Staring up at the creature, Harry realised two things.

One: He really wished he was a few inches taller so he could at least look the werewolf in the eyes without craning his neck slightly.

Two: He had done something incredibly stupid. Again.

It looked at Harry's shaking form below it. Taking another whiff at Harry, it seemed to come to some conclusion.

Sirius began squirming and barking in earnest while Hermione remained frozen in horror. Opening a wide jaw, the saliva dripped from its fangs and Harry prayed he would survive.

Hermione would be traumatised. Sirius as well.

Professor Lupin would probably never forgive himself and would most likely hand himself over to the authorities to be punished. If the public hadn't got a hold of him first, (an almost silent whimper passed by Harry's lips at the thought) in which case they would probably tear him-

A wet tongue raked itself through Harry's hair.

Everyone frozen except for the werewolf. It huffed at Harry and licked his hair again. Taking it's paw off the now motionless bear-like dog and ignoring it, the werewolf began licking Harry's hair and behind his ears.

Harry tried to squirm away but was quickly pulled into something akin to a hug by the large werewolf. It lay down, pulling Harry with it and pinned him between its front paws like a errant pup trying escape bath time.

Which in the werewolf's eyes, Harry was exactly that.

"Hermione, what is going on?!" Harry tried to wriggle out of the creature's grasp, pushing away the muzzle and trying to suppress his giggles only to be thwarted as it continued licking in a different part of his hair.

"I don't know Harry. Werewolves are supposed to kill any human it comes across, no matter who it is." Hermione looked utterly bewildered at the sight before her. Nothing she'd read even so much as hinted at what was occurring.

The look of complete confusion on Sirius' face would have been hilarious at any other time, but Harry was more concerned about the tongue bath he was receiving.

At Hermione's voice, the werewolf seemed to remember the other beings present. It suddenly started snarling at Hermione and pulled itself away from Harry. It was about to spring on the terrified girl when Harry leapt in front of it, arms spread and with a loud cry, "No!"

It stopped immediately and regarded Harry. Harry held firm.

"No." He stated again stubbornly, pushing away any fear he had.

The werewolf huffed at Harry and sat down.

If Harry had to describe the werewolf in that exact moment, he would have said it was pouting.

Suddenly the werewolf's ears perked and it began sniffing around. Moving towards Ron and the manacles, it ignored the unconscious boy (it smelt of the pup and was most likely an adopted littermate. Pup wouldn't be happy if it ate him) and found the scent of an old pack mate.

A rat.

A Brother.

Wormtail.

Somewhere deep in the werewolf's conscious, Remus Lupin snarled at the name of the traitor. The idea came to forefront of its mind and the werewolf let loose a violent snarl. The traitor would pay for taking the Stag, _Prongs his mind whispered_, and his mate, _Lily_, from the pack.

Turning around, the werewolf, _Moony it now remembered_, pushed the pup with his muzzle towards the Dog, _Padfoot the not-traitor_. Padfoot would take care of the pup while Moony dealt with the Traitor.

As if sensing what Moony had planned, the pup went willingly to Padfoot's side, which had now gotten back up and was completely confused. Moony gave a small whimper at the sight of the wounds on Padfoot's side and licked Padfoot's muzzle apologetically.

Once the pup was safely with Padfoot, Moony turned around to chase after the Traitor only to have the pup call out to him.

"Don't kill him. We need him to protect Sirius!"

Moony wasn't really sure who Sirius was, it brought forth ideas of a human Padfoot but if the pup didn't want the Traitor dead to protect someone who was possibly pack, who was Moony to deny the pup?

He turned around and gave the pup a comforting lick on the cheek and bounded off after the Traitor.

Once the werewolf had ran into the woods, Hermione asked the question on everyone's mind.

"What just happened?"

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><p>Half an hour later, the three teenagers and the escaped prisoner were trying to plan the next course of action. Harry, Hermione and Sirius had been thrown off by the werewolf's actions towards Harry for the first ten minutes after it had left and left completely confused.<p>

The next twenty minutes was spent trying to figure out what to do next. Sirius couldn't return to the castle and Harry didn't want him to leave just yet. Ron had been propped against a root to recover after he had been revived by Sirius using Lupin's wand.

They had just decided that Sirius would hide in the Shrieking Shack while the three took Snape back to castle when a rather almost smug looking werewolf appeared in the tree line. Harry immediately stood in front of his friends, hoping whatever had come over the werewolf earlier would happen again and Sirius had changed back into Padfoot, standing protectively next to Harry.

Strangely the werewolf once again ignored the other humans and only paid attention to Harry. It sat in front of Harry with its jaws firmly locked into-

"Pettigrew."

Harry was stunned. The werewolf dropped the unconscious rat at Harry's feet and looked at him as if to reprimand him for doubting the creature. Sirius sniffed at the rat and woofed at Harry happily. The rat was still alive.

Making a quick decision, Harry turned back to Ron and Hermione. "You two, take Snape and go back to the castle. Sirius and I will bring Petti- HEY!"

Harry had been pulled into another almost hug by the werewolf and was currently been given yet another tongue bath before the werewolf curled around him, stubbornly refusing to let Harry go anywhere . Harry sighed. It was better than been eaten at least.

"Okay. Sirius, take Pettigrew and go with Ron and Hermione."

Sirius whined.

"I kind of doubt Professor Lupin is going to hurt me."

The point was emphasised by a lick to the cheek and a thump of the tail by the oversized wolf.

"Sirius, don't you want to be free? Go. I'll be fine."

Making one last long look at Harry, Sirius picked up Pettigrew in his jaws and took off after the two teenagers, Hermione supporting Ron and levitating Snape in front of them.

Harry sighed and looked at the werewolf.

"I don't suppose I can convince you to let me go?" He got a lick to his forehead and a werewolf settling to down to snooze in his lap.

"Didn't think so."

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><p>Professor Remus John Lupin awoke with a start. He had had the most curious dream. Black had been innocent of everything while Peter had been the culprit behind it all. They, along with Harry, Hermione and Ron, had confronted Peter in the Shrieking Shack. They managed to capture him before taking him outside when the moon had revealed itself and he hadn't taken his potion so he had endangered three of his students.<p>

That's when Remus realised he was in the Hospital Wing.

Oh Merlin. It hadn't been a dream. He really had endangered everyone. Remus sat up and buried his head in his hands, ignoring the bandages around his chest.

He ignored the curtains moving and nearly fell out of the bed when a familiar voice spoke.

"Morning Professor."

"Harry!" Before him stood Harry. He looked completely fine, if a little tired although his hair seemed to be sticking up more than usual. Some sort of gel maybe?

Harry smiled at him and sat down on the bed next to his favourite professor. He had no idea how much that little show of acceptance meant to Remus.

"Sirius says you don't usually remember what happens when you change. "

"Yes, I usually... did Pettigrew escaped? I didn't hurt anyone did I?!" Before he could grow more agitated, Harry placated him.

"Pettigrew did manage to get away for a few minutes but I should probably explain something first. When you changed, he did get away and Sirius tackled you which is how you got those." He gestured to the bandages around Remus' chest.

Remus nodded. "Sirius. He must've chased me away."

"Actually, you pinned him." Harry corrected. He gave Remus a gentle smile at the look of horror he received. "I yelled out and ran towards you to intervene..."

"Harry James Potter, that was an incredible foolish thing to do! I could've... Oh Merlin I didn't..." The look of reprimand abruptly turned to horror, shame and self disgust.

"Professor, aside from growling at me once and almost licking my hair to death, you didn't do anything."

Remus' head snapped towards Harry disbelievingly. "What?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "We've got no idea either. Hermione explained it to Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall but nobody can explain it. Apparently Hermione said the closest thing she can think of is that you treated me like a pup. Like normal wolves do. She thinks that Moony thought Dad as a part of his pack and therefore, I'm pack too."

Remus was lost. "But?..."

Harry continued. "Hermione drew your attention at one point but when I told you not to attack her, you listened to me. Then you started sniffing around and ran off after Pettigrew. You came back about half an hour later with him unconscious. Hermione, Ron and Sirius brought him and Snape back up to the school. I'm not sure what happened next though. Hermione's still asleep, so's Ron. Sirius is being interrogated by an Auror with Pettigrew so nobody has been able to tell me exactly what is going on."

Remus shook his head. This was too much information. "What about you?"

Harry gave him a side grin which reminded Remus of Lily when she found something wickedly amusing. "You kind of commandeered me and refused to let me up. My hair got another grooming before you decided you wanted a nap and kept me pinned next to you."

"So I didn't hurt you? At all? Any of you?" Remus asked in trepidation.

"Nope." Harry smiled at Remus who found himself returning the smile. "Hagrid found us curled up and asleep by the Whomping Willow. You woke up and started growling at him but I told you to leave him and you did. Few minutes later, the sun came up and you passed out. Hagrid brought us up to the Hospital Wing. You're still pretty hurt and I'm a little tired from last night..."

"Which is why, Mr Potter, you should be in bed!" Both student and teacher jumped and turned to the rather annoyed looking nurse who had flung open the curtains.

Madam Pompfrey had to suppress a snicker at the identical look of shock and reprimand on her two favourite patients.

"Yes Madam Pompfrey." Harry sheepishly apologised before slinking off back to his own bed, which was surprisingly next to Remus' own.

"Honestly, between the both of you, I'm run off my feet! Now sleep , both of you!"

Both werewolf and his pup, at last reunited, glanced at each other before deciding it was probably best to do what the Nurse said before they incurred her wrath further.

Deep within Remus' subconscious, Moony huffed happily and wagged his tail, joyous he had found his pup and pack again.

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><p><em>'It is widely known that a werewolf will lose all knowledge of whom he is while under the influence of the Full Moon. He would kill his best friend should he cross his path. What is less known is that, much like their non-magical cousins the wolves, werewolves are deeply protective of their pups or any pups born into the werewolf's pack. A werewolf will treat any child of its pack like its own and will protect him or her until its last breath. Any child born into a werewolf's pack is automatically disregarded as prey or a threat and a werewolf, even under the influence of the moon, will never harm its pup. Some 'pups' have even been known to be able to direct a werewolf to their command.'<em>

_-Werewolves: An Intensive Study._

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><p><strong>Okay so that last bit is supposed to be from some obscure book and should wrap up any questions about Moony's behaviour.<strong>

**To solve any plot holes you spot, one word: MAGIC!**

**This is a one shot. Anyone who wants to take it for a spin, feel free. Just gimme some warning first.**

**Love it, hate it, spot a mistake, I like all sorts of reviews although any flames will be used to make smores.**


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